Father of teen shot by Bexar County deputy questions son's death

SAN ANTONIO - The father of 19-year-old Jose Guerra who was fatally shot by a sheriff's sergeant Sunday morning questions the story he received about his son's death.

Joe Guerra spent most of Monday afternoon locked in long embraces with family and friends at his West side home. A few hours earlier, around noon, he and his wife learned that their youngest son, 19-year-old Jose Guerra, was fatally shot by a Bexar County sheriff's sergeant early Sunday morning.

The shooting happened at Culebra road near FM 1560 around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Sgt. Frank Bellino, a 26-year veteran, was responding to a call for a man behaving erratically at a nearby gas station.

Bellino found Guerra walking along Culebra. According to the sheriff's department, Bellino stopped Guerra.

The department said that as Bellino was attempting to frisk Guerra, the teen became violent and attempted to push Bellino into the street.

At that point, Bellino pulled out his weapon and shot Guerra four times, deputies said.

"My youngest son was murdered at my next son's birthday," said Joe Guerra, Jose's father.

Joe said his son had attended his older son's birthday party and left after getting into a heated political argument with a couple of guests. Jose was on his way back when he was stopped by Sgt. Bellino.

"There are hundreds of people that can attest to my son's character," said Guerra. "For this officer to insinuate that my son could be aggressive with him is just impossible to accept."

When Jose didn't return home Sunday morning, his parents began calling local hospitals and the jail. They even asked police to run reports to find out if he had been arrested.

"Just the fact that my son hadn't returned home and hadn't called home, we were pretty much prepared for the worst," said Guerra.

They received the news around noon on Monday from two detectives. Guerra said he immediately began questioning their story, including the detail that Bellino's patrol car did not have a dash cam to back up claims of his son's erratic behavior.

"On his resume it states that he was a supervisor in the traffic division and according to them, all traffic division vehicles have dash cams," said Guerra. "So there's a lot of holes in their story."

Guerra said his son was an Army reservist and planned to sign up for the SAPD academy next year. The family has retained an attorney in hopes of getting more questions answered.

"There is no justification for what's taken place in the murder of my son," Guerra said. "No justification whatsoever."

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